The Huntsman of Red V2

Chapter 38 Prelude: 'Sword of Remnant' (4)

A tired sigh escaped from parted lips, eyes pursed shut, and brows knit together from a reclined head. One hand had a bag of ice which was placed over the left side of a woman's face, and dabbed lightly to ease the colouring bruise.

"So then...get on with it. Do your worst."

Raven unceremoniously plopped herself down onto a worn reclining chair; her feet kicking up to rest on a low center-table laden with miscellaneous Dust shells, snack wrappers, and junk which she quickly swept aside with her foot for more space.

Across from Raven, Shirou watched the languid action, and suddenly felt he understood where some of Yang's bad habits had come from despite Raven's lack of involvement in Yang's life. It was genetic. It had to be. One look at Yang's room back in Patch was all it would take in order to make the connection.

No one in the Branwen tribe would dare to brazenly enter Raven's private lodgings, making it unnecessary to keep up any sort of appearance. Therefore, she clearly didn't bother with the current state of the place. Maybe if she was expecting someone she would have cleaned up, but on such short notice, there wasn't really much to be done. Hence, it was good enough that she cleared a small space on the low table which she then kicked towards him as a make-shift bench.

He politely declined.

At least she was trying to be accommodating despite cursing Ozpin and Qrow under her breath for the entire duration, but Shirou wouldn't mention that.

At least she was being accommodating.

For a second, Shirou had the image of Yang stuffing the mess of her room under her bed, just to try to make her room look better.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the image he'd seen too many times to count when Yang had friends over, he focused on the matter at hand.

"So then...get on with it? Do your worst?" He echoed Raven's words in disbelief. "Why are you making it sound as if I want or need something of you?"

"Isn't that why you're here? To seduce me? Make me a compliant bitch?"

"I recall that you were the one to invite me over to get away from all the yelling. Now can you be serious about this?"

Raven idly glanced at Shirou before grimacing and sitting herself up. Placing down the pack of ice, she rested her elbows over her thighs while she clasped her hands together in front of her.

"When you're helpless, you tend to realize you don't give a shit about the small things anymore," she gave him the stink eye. "If I wasn't already over half certain that you're stronger than me, then we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with."

"You were free to test it outside," Shirou pointed out, much to Raven's chagrin. "But I guess I can understand why you didn't. How's the bruise?"

Raven scowled, disgruntled. "You cheated," she accused. "I know my own daughter. I may not have been involved in her life, but I was there. She shouldn't have been able to land a single punch on me."

"I gave advice," he replied evenly.

"You pointed out a flaw that even I was unaware of in my swordsmanship."

"Take it as something to work on, then."

"It's not nearly as simple to fix something so complex, so ingrained into habits."

Shirou shrugged matter-of-factly. "You would know, wouldn't you? Story of your life, isn't it?"

Raven shut her eyes, her feet shifting as she stretched an arm out towards a half-consumed bottle of alcohol in the room and took a swig. Shuddering, she sighed. "Suddenly, I can see what Qrow sees in these things," she muttered before downing the rest without hesitation.